Watford

What is it like to live in Watford?

Homes sold for a typical £427,000 in the 12 months to September 2026. At 2,593 of the 2,901 postcodes Ofcom reports on, every home and business can get gigabit broadband. The Environment Agency counts 464 homes and businesses at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea, at 83 of its 3,123 postcodes. It has 38 primary schools and 8 secondary schools at its postcodes within 12 km of its centre. At least 5 GP practices are at its postcodes. The nearest railway station is Watford Junction, 550 metres from the middle of its postcodes in a straight line.

We don't rate places; here are the figures so you can judge.

Sources: HM Land Registry Price Paid Data; Ofcom Connected Nations; Environment Agency flood risk; Get Information about Schools; NHS GP practices; NaPTAN. Each figure is from a section of this page, which gives its date.

What do homes cost in Watford?

Homes in Watford sold for a typical £427,000 in the 12 months to September 2026, across 1,060 sales, HM Land Registry's figures show. The 12 months before gave £435,000 from 1,548 sales: not a change larger than chance would explain, given which homes happened to sell.

• Detached £855,000 109 sales
• Semi-detached £542,500 262 sales
• Terraced £427,000 354 sales
• Flat or maisonette £270,000 335 sales

Each bar is that kind's typical price, against the most expensive kind here.

Across the whole WD18 district, Watford's main postcode district: a typical £370,000.

Sales at the postcodes ONS places in Watford: standard sales of homes at market value. A typical price is the median, the middle sale. Sales take weeks to be registered, so the last month or two are incomplete. Each postcode page gives the figure for its own postcode sector.

Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid Data, files dated 28 October 2026.

Are new homes being built in Watford?

190 of the 3,123 postcodes now in use in Watford came into use in January 2020 or later, ONS says. In the 12 months to September 2025, 177 of the 1,548 homes sold in Watford were newly built (11%), HM Land Registry's records show; across the WD18 district, 19%.

The newest postcodes

A new postcode is often a new street or estate, but Royal Mail also makes new postcodes when it reorganises old ones, so not every one means new homes. Only postcodes still in use are counted.

New homes among the homes sold

Standard sales of homes at market value that HM Land Registry marks as newly built. New homes take longer to be registered than other sales, so the latest 12 months count fewer of them than were sold. A share is given from 5 sales or more.

Sources: ONS Postcode Directory, August 2026, loaded 20 October 2026; HM Land Registry Price Paid Data, files dated 28 October 2026.

What broadband can you get in Watford?

Ofcom reports on 2,901 of the 3,123 postcodes in Watford. At 2,593 of them every home and business can get gigabit broadband.

Ofcom gives each postcode's share of homes and businesses, not how many there are, so these count postcodes. Each postcode page has its own figures. A provider's checker answers for one address.

Source: Ofcom Connected Nations, Connected Nations, Spring 2026, data for January 2026.

Is Watford at risk of flooding?

83 of the 3,123 postcodes in Watford have a home or business in an area at risk of flooding from rivers or the sea, the Environment Agency says. At those, it puts 464 homes and businesses in an area at high or medium risk.

High: 3.3% or more a year (1 in 30). Medium: 1% to 3.3% a year. Low: 0.1% to 1% a year. Very low: under 0.1% a year (1 in 1,000). Each band is the chance of flooding in any one year.

Homes and businesses in an area at risk of flooding from rivers or the sea, as the Environment Agency counts them, added up over the postcodes. It is for the land, not each building, and leaves out surface water, groundwater and sewers. Each postcode page has its own figures and its flood warning areas.

Source: Environment Agency flood risk, published 6 July 2026.

Which schools are in Watford?

The open schools at the postcodes in Watford (the first 8 primaries by distance from its middle). A school for ages 4 to 18 is listed under both. Distances are straight lines from the middle of its postcodes. Distance is not a catchment: each council sets its own admission rules. Special schools and alternative provision, which children join by referral, are not listed.

An orange bar: the school has as many pupils as places, or more (Department for Education's figures).

Source: Get Information about Schools, read 17 October 2026. Each school opens its own record there.

How far is the station from Watford?

The nearest railway station to the centre point of the postcodes in Watford is Watford Junction Rail Station, 550 m away in a straight line.

• Watford Junction Rail Station Railway station 550 mWalk
• Watford Junction Rail Station Railway station 600 mWalk
• Watford High Street Rail Station Railway station 1.0 kmWalk
• Watford Underground Station Underground, metro or tram 1.1 kmWalk

Straight-line distances from the centre point, not routes. Walk: under 1.2 km. Cycle: 1.2 to 5 km. Drive: further.

Straight-line distances from the middle of the postcodes, not routes. Each postcode page lists its own nearest stations and bus stops. The Department for Transport's register does not say how often services run.

Source: NaPTAN, read 17 October 2026.

Which GP surgeries are in Watford?

The GP practices at the postcodes in Watford, the first 5 by distance from its middle. Each practice sets the area it takes patients from, so check with it before registering.

• Suthergrey House Medical Centre Care Quality Commission rating: Good CQC report January 2020, over 3 years old · Phone 01923 224424 150 mWalk
• The Elms Surgery Care Quality Commission rating: Requires improvement CQC report May 2023, over 3 years old · Phone 01923 224203 300 mWalk
• Watford Health Centre Care Quality Commission rating: Good CQC report December 2021, over 3 years old · Phone 01923 226266 300 mWalk
• Bridgewater Surgeries Care Quality Commission rating: Good CQC report August 2022, over 3 years old · Phone 01923 202600 1.7 kmCycle
• Sas West Herts Phone 01923 202606 1.7 kmCycle

Sources: NHS GP practices, read 17 October 2026; Care Quality Commission, ratings of 1 October 2026.

Is Watford safe? Crime recorded around it

Police.uk records 7,206 crimes and reports of anti-social behaviour within a mile of the middle of the postcodes in Watford over the 12 months from September 2025 to August 2026. August 2026 is the latest month it has published. These are counts, not a rate: we hold no count of the people who live, work or pass through, so we do not say whether a place is safe.

Each month, September 2025 to August 2026

By kind, over the 12 months

Also: burglary 175, bicycle theft 160, theft from the person 155, robbery 113, other crime 86, possession of weapons 68.

Police.uk says its locations "always represent the approximate location of a crime". Each crime is moved to the nearest of a fixed list of map points, each over a street centre, a public place or a commercial premises, chosen so that every point covers at least eight addresses or none. A mile is a wide circle: in a town it takes in the centre and its shops, where much crime is recorded.

Source: police.uk, data to August 2026, from its download of 30 September 2026.

Who runs Watford?

Councils

Watford (2,448), Three Rivers (658), Hertsmere (15) and 1 other

County council

Hertfordshire

Parliamentary constituencies

Watford (2,451), South West Hertfordshire (658), Hertsmere (12) and 1 other

Police force area

Hertfordshire

Region

East of England

Country

England

Where the place crosses a boundary, a row lists each side with its number of postcodes. Check a postcode for its own. What council am I in?

Source: ONS Postcode Directory, August 2026, loaded 20 October 2026.